Awkward lovers
by ToshiroHitsugaya105
Summary: Orihime has a huge crush on Ichigo when one day they start to hang out and actually become good friends she finds it harder than ever to keep her feelings hidden all the while Ichigo is feeling the same way. Both must face their awkwardness to be able to become closer with one another. A/U fluff Ichihime pairing.
1. Umbrella

**A/N First off I'm going to say I love this pairing and I hope you guys like the story Please review! I'm always looking for feedback!**

Orihime sat at her desk looking out the window watching the rain fall from the sky, watching the rain made Orihime long to be outside. She hadn't been able to focus all day long which wasn't particularly new for her, but today it had been more than usual. Orihime stared at her the black board now, even though she had been listening to the teacher the problem on the board made no sense to her. The redhead racked her brain for a solution but she just came up empty handed, she turned to look outside again resting her head in her hand. _'Maybe I should go to bed early tonight.'_

"Hey, Orihime you alright?" Tatsuki asked prodding the curvy girl's elbow.

"Eh?" Orihime gave her best friend a confused look. "Oh yeah I'm fine! Don't worry." Orhime laughed it off hoping Tatsuki would leave it at that, she didn't feel in the mood for talking. Luckily for her she convinced Tatsuki without any effort and continued to watch the rain.

The dull ring of the dismissal bell rung through the empty hallways echoing off the lockers. Orihime walked slowly carrying a stack of homework assigned from her teachers, she dodged various students as the hallways began to fill up with students eager to rush home. Orihime couldn't be bothered it wasn't like she had anyone to come home to. _'I've been way to depressed lately, I should have some red bean ice cream that usually does the trick._ ' Orihime got caught up in her thoughts about food and crashed into someone sending her books across the floor. "Oh no! I'm so sorry!" She couldn't make out who she had crashed into her, her vision was blurry and everything seemed to be spinning around redhead put a hand against a locker to steady herself letting the moment pass. Once it was over Orihime crouched down to pick up her stuff not bothering to look up figuring who she had ran into had left by now. She reached to grab her textbook when her hand was met with a much bigger hand belonging to a man. Orihime looked up to find none other than Ichigo Kurosaki. The blood rushed to her cheeks "I'm sorry Ichi-"

"Don't be. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going the least I can do is pick up your books." Ichigo smiled sheepishly scratching the back of his head. Orihime nodded slowly.

"Thank you." Orihime smiled. Orihime knew she'd be having a good day after talking to Ichigo, he had that effect on her just seeing him made her heart skip a beat.

"Want me to walk you home?" Ichigo's voice brought Orihime out of her daze.

"Uh it's okay I'm fine really!" Orihime threw on her signature smile to prove she wasn't lying

Ichigo's face softened as a small smile tugged at his lips. This made Orihime feel like her heart was melting she wanted to scream her heart was beating so fast, instead she kept her composure dusting herself off and standing up accepting the textbook from Ichigo. "Well if you change your mind about walking home with me I'll be by the main entrance." Ichigo nodded to Orihime who blushed in response. "Yeah, okay thanks." She replied awkwardly. Ichigo raised his eye brow in confusion but quickly ignored it and headed down the stairs.

Once Ichigo was gone Orihime let out a huge sigh. 'Oh my god I'm such an idiot.' Orihime's fell into her hands shaking her head. _'I need to work on being less awkward._ ' Orihime took a deep breath and continued to her locker, why hadn't she just said yes? Sometimes she didn't even understand herself, either way despite almost injuring herself she felt in a better mood than she had all day and she only had Ichigo to thank.

Ichigo waited at the main entrance like he said he would, he didn't understand why he was putting so much effort into making sure Orihime was okay but he liked her and it felt like the right thing to do. Or was he just being creepy? He never was super good with girls he was more worried about his image than girls. Ichigo leaned against the concrete wall ear buds in place and waited anyway. He watched the rain bounce off the pavement it reminded him of his mom the night she died. Ichigo had just about given up and gone home when he saw Orihime walking down the steps on the entrance. "Oh! You're still here!" Orihime shouted running towards him. Ichigo blushed slightly looking away from her from her big grey eyes.

"Lets go." He gestured for Orihime to walk in front.

"Right." Orihime nodded pulling her umbrella out from her bag, the umbrella was a vibrant shade of red, so red it almost hurt Ichigo's eyes. Noticing Ichigo cringing Orihime panicked "Did I hit you in the face with my umbrella? Sorry I'm really clumsy." She waved her hands in front of her face embarrassed. Ichigo laughed "No, it's nothing don't worry about it." He assured her.

The two set off home, Orihime tried to hold the umbrella high enough to cover both of them but Ichigo was too tall for her she persisted anyway.

"Don't worry about me so much Orihime." Ichigo's hazel eyes watched her pout in response. "Here I'll hold it okay?" He said compromising with the redhead. She finally gave in and handed the umbrella to Ichigo and they both walked home in comfortable silence listening to the sound of the rain pounding on the umbrella.


	2. Aunt

Orihime felt wonderful, her dull and boring day had turned into the best day of her life she felt as if she could see the beauty in every thing as if she were on a euphoric high. She cursed herself for letting a boy mean so much to her but she couldn't help it. Orihime waved goodbye from the balcony overlooking the street where she could see Ichigo waving back as he walked away. ' _Man he's so cute!'_ Orihime squealed inside. She swiveled around on her feet opened her apartment door noticing a letter on her doormat she gingerly picked it up.

It was from her Aunt. Orihime's stomach dropped and any happy feelings she had had fled her body. She hadn't opened the letter yet, but her word from her aunt was rare and it never brought good news. Orihime clutched the envelope harder closing the door softly behind her despite her current mood. She never took her anger out on other things than herself. The redhead procrastinated opening the envelope, she tried to busy herself hoping to forget about the letter but the anticipation of not knowing ate away at her. Finally Orihime caved sitting down on her couch with the letter in hand, she took a deep breath in preparing herself for what her aunt had said. Her hands shook as she tore open the letter.

 _'Dear Miss Inoue,_

 _I have received reports from your school informing me that your grades are slipping. In fact your at a 87% in Biology an 8% decrease from last month. This isn't the only class showing the effects of your irresponsibility. If you cannot pull your grades together in two weeks I will cease to send you any money to pay for your housing._

Orihime dropped the letter in shock, a gross warm feeling radiated in her stomach. She never imagined her aunt would be so harsh. She shook her head in dismay. Why was this happening? After such a good day too? Tear's threatened to fall from her eyes. Orihime bit her lip forcing the tears back, there was no time for crying. The only thing she could do now was work as hard as she could to get her grades up. The red head seriously regretted not paying attention in class today. _'I only have two weeks to do this._ ' Stress weighed Orihime down like a heavyweight. ' _Well I might as well get started_.' Orihime thought as she picked up her textbooks from the counter.

Orihime didn't eat dinner instead she worked on her projects pouring all her heart and soul into it when she finally looked at the clock she realised it was time for her to go to school. "I stayed up that late?!" Orihime said aloud flabbergasted. The red head rubbed her eyes, despite being up all night she didn't feel super tired, she knew she couldn't skip school no matter how bad she wanted too. Orihime fixed her make up then ran out the door skipping breakfast. She usually didn't skip meals, food was so important to her but right now she wasn't even hungry it seemed the stress replaced her hunger. The rain hadn't let up from last night but Orihime was in too much of a hurry to go back to grab her umbrella. The rain poured hard and thunder grumbled in the distance showing no sympathy for her situation.

Ichigo arrived at school earlier than usual thanks to his dad he got a ride to school, he felt bad for any poor sucker that had to walk. Ichigo sat at his desk opening to last days notes, the only people here were the ones who were notorious for showing up super early. Ichigo didn't get it why would someone want to sit in the classroom alone for half an hour? The redhead noticed that Orihime wasn't in her seat which was beside his. Orihime was usually early disappointment sunk in ' _She must be sick, man this day is going to be boring._ ' Ichigo stared at his notes and waited for class to start, now he really didn't want to be here. As class begun to start they were interrupted by someone abruptly swinging the door open, Ichigo looked up from his book to see Orihime drenched from the rain rushing to her seat.

"Sorry!" She stage whispered as she quietly got into her seat. Ichigo noticed the slight bags under her eyes, she seemed to have something on her mind as she didn't even greet Ichigo in her usual cheerful way. This made Ichigo's heart drop he loved seeing her happy. He wondered what could've happened to make her so depressed so quickly.

School felt like it would never end and with the weather being so dreary it seemed to make the day drag on even more. When the bell finally rang Ichigo felt a wave a relief he couldn't wait to get home. Ichigo plugged his earphones in and begun to walk out the main entrance, he walked with the main flow of people occasionally dodging over excited teens oblivious to their surroundings. Black clouds loomed over buildings creating an ominous aura. Lost in his thoughts Ichigo stared at the clouds they brought back so many memories from when he was a kid, when his mom was still alive. _'Oh crap! I left my keys in the classroom._ ' Ichigo cursed himself for being so forgetful. Orange haired boy abruptly turned on his heel running back this classroom. Ichigo threw the door open not expecting anyone to be in the classroom, when he saw Orihime practically jump out of her skin.

"Oh, sorry Orihime didn't mean to startle you." When he spoke it felt as if he couldn't hear what he was saying his heartbeat loud in his ears. Orihime nodded politely and continued to work." Hey, are you okay?" Orihime spoke this time flashing a smile that was obviously fake.

"Yeah of course I am!" Her usual cheerfulness seemed tainted.

"Oh, okay." Ichigo replied thinking it wasn't in his place to pry. "Bye then." He said shutting the door behind him. Ichigo got five steps down the hallway before something in his gut told him to go back. Ichigo ran back to the classroom door this time opening it with less force.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ichigo practically shouted at Orihime which he could see was obviously in tears. Orihime began to cry softly.

"No..." She replied her voice cracking.

Ichigo waked over to her desk and crouched looking up at the redhead his eyes softened.

"What's wrong?" Ichigo asked with a concerned expression.

Orihime gave a weak smile, "It's nothing." she wiped her tears in an attempt to force herself to stop crying.

The hazel eyed boy gave her a look of disbelief making her laugh a bit. "It's my aunt, she said if I don't pull up my grades in two weeks she'll stop giving me rent money, and I don't get paid enough from the bakery to cover my bills I only just started." Her voice cracked making her cringe, this was definitely not how she wanted to look in front of anyone let alone her crush.

Ichigo nodded solemnly he didn't know what to say. He remembered when her brother died. He was helping out his dad who owned a small clinic when a man was brought in from a car wreck, unfortunately they were unable to save him. He was her only guardian, Ichigo didn't know it was her brother that died that night until he started high school and recognized her as the girl crying that night.

"I'm a little confused, you're fourth in the class why do you have to 'pull up your grades'? I thought you were an A student?"

Orihime bobbed her head up and down. "I am, but I'm getting a few percent less than what I was getting last month. So my aunt takes that as me being a bad student, if I don't keep a 90% average she'll cut me off and I have nowhere to go."

"That's Idiotic." Ichigo replied frustrated. Orihime had calmed down and had stopped crying.

"So I'm working as hard as I can to make sure that doesn't happen." The curvy girl ran a hand through her red hair. Just when things got quiet Orihime's stomach let out a loud groan. Orihime blushed bright red "I forgot I haven't eaten in a while." Orihime held her face in her hands embarrassed.

"Well, we better go get some food then." Ichigo stood up stretching as he did so.

"What?" Orihime asked even though she clearly heard what he had said.

"I said we should get some food, then we can figure out how to get this horrible aunt of your of your back. And if you'd like I can help you with your project?" Ichigo suggested shrugging like it was no big deal.

Orihime sat their in shock." You're so nice you actually mean that?"

"Why not? It's what friends do right?" Ichigo smirked

"Okay! Lets go then. I'm starving." Orihime laughed it off. Ichigo smiled she seemed happier now and that made him happy.


	3. Halloween 1

Weeks had past by Orihime had seldom spoke to Ichigo since he last helped her with her projects, which thanks to him she bumped up her mark and was able to stay in her apartment. Orihime felt awkward like she shouldn't associate with him in front of people she knew he probably didn't mind if she talked to him or not but she just felt as if she was being a bother pestering him with useless conversation. But she really wanted to borrow some of his manga, he mentioned he had the next book to the series she was reading. Orihime bit her lip. 'What if he won't let me borrow it? Maybe I'm asking too much of him.' The redhead fidgeted in her seat the end of the day was almost here, maybe she could walk home with him and ask him then. Just the thought of it made Orihime's stomach do flip flops, she never used to get so anxious. Finally the bell signaling the end of the school day rang it was now or never. The curvy Redhead walked over to Ichigo who was currently still at his desk gathering his homework into his backpack.

"Hey Orihime! It's been awhile how are you?"

"H-hey," Orihime stammered "I'm good I was wondering if I could borrow that Manga from you." She said laughing nervously.

"Yeah sure! I can give it to you today if you don't mind walking with me to my house." Ichigo offered

 _'Oh my god'_ "Yeah sure!" Orihime replied a little to enthusiastically.

"Cool, lets go." The ginger boy stood up from his seat.

Ichigo walked beside Orihime falling into step with her. If he was totally honest with himself he wanted this to but much more than just Orihime popping by to borrow one of his books, but he knew he couldn't be selfish it was enough for him to know that by her borrowing something she'd eventually have to talk to him again in the near future. The made casual conversation mostly about school and what teachers were the worst, Ichigo longed to get to know the Redhead better, he knew some stuff just by being in the same class but it wasn't the same.

"Ah, here it is." Ichigo gestured for Orihime to follow. Orihime walked after Ichigo the gravel crunching underneath her boots. "Come inside it's cold out there." Ichigo called back noticing Orihime awkwardly shift in his doorway.

"O-okay!" The Redhead stepping inside gingerly she breathed in the scent of his house it felt so intimate for her. She decided to take off her boots and follow Ichigo to his room.

The door to his bedroom was slightly ajar, but Orihime wasn't brave enough to barge in. The redhead gingerly knocked on the door making Ichigo aware of her presence.

"Is it alright to come in?" Orihime bit her lip maybe she had literally stepped to far.

"Come on in!" Ichigo smiled at her his brown eyes were warm and welcoming.

The first thing Orihime noticed was how pristine his room was, she imagined it to be a lot messier than it was. Everything had a place, not that he had a lot of things his room was pretty bare besides the bookshelf Ichigo was currently rummaging around in.

"Here it is!" Ichigo exclaimed pulling the out brightly coloured book which starked in comparison to his room which was a bland shade of blue. Orihime grabbed the book from the muscular redhead accidently touching his hand. Orihime blushed awkwardly and pretended nothing happened.

"Thank you so much Ichigo!" Orihime bowed slightly making Ichigo laugh.

"It's really no problem I already caught up with the whole series."

Orihime looked at Ichigo in disbelief "What no fair! Now I have to catch up to you so you don't spoil anything for me." Orihime fake pouted. Ichigo laughed

"Don't worry I won't ruin it for you promise." Ichigo said putting his hand over his heart as if he were swearing by the bible. Orihime's bubbly laugh came out before she could control it.

"Anyway, I need to get going thank you again Ichigo." Orihime smiled.

"Yeah sure no problem let me know when you need the next one." Orihime nodded

"Sure."

 **Halloween Day : 3:30 pm**

It was halloween and Orihime was ecstatic. This year she was dressing up as her favorite superhero Superwoman and she was attending Keigo's party with her best friend Tatsuki. Things seemed to be better with her grades so she was willing to let loose a little. She skipped to her apartment with her jet black haired friend who was dressing up at Robin from Batman.

"Slow down Orihime you'll injure yourself before the party even starts!" She shouted ahead at Orihime who was twirling on the sidewalk.

"But it's halloween." She pouted "I can't wait for all the food that will be there." Orihime practically drooled. Tatsuki shook her head.

"I don't know how you're so skinny for how much you eat."

Orihime just smiled back she knew she was blessed with an amazing metabolism.

 **Halloween Evening: 7:00pm**

Orihime arrived at Keigo's party with Tatsuki both in freshly done make-up. Orihime could smell the alcohol already, she'd never drank before she felt a pang of nervousness in her gut but it was also mixed with excitement. Keigo greeted them at the door as usual he was his pervy self.

"Hey, Tatsuki you actually look hot in that outfit I can almost see your-" His sentence cut off by Tatsuki punching him in the nose.

"Nice to see you too." Keigo whispered as he curled up on the floor to recover from Tatsuki's punch. So far it had been like any normal get together.

"Here!" Mizuiro handed them two plastic drink cups. "I mixed it myself!"

Orihime eyed the liquid suspiciously considering whether or not to actually drink it.

"Come on Orihime it's fine!" Tatsuki nudged and smiled. "You know you don't have to drink if you don't want to." Orihime nodded but chugged the drink anyway.

"Woah there! Maybe you shouldn't have drank it all at once" Mizuiro looked concerned. But Orihime brushed it off besides the gross after taste she felt fine.

"Woah, you can sure hold you alcohol." Tatsuki shook her head in amazement.

Not long after Orihime had begun to feel extremely dizzy but Tatsuki was with Keigo somewhere helping him out. Every one of Orihime's thoughts were jumbled nothing made sense. She knew some things for certain but at the same time she didn't understand anything she couldn't even tell if she was talking or thinking. Everyone was having fun either dancing or talking to their significant other Orihime just sat on the couch alone.

No one seemed to notice her slip out, she was feeling quite depressed by herself at the party and figured she might as well leave. The redhead stumbled out of Keigo's apartment door pressing her cold hands against her cheeks in an attempt to cool her down. Orihime in her Super Woman get up leaned against the wall for support as she slowly began to walk towards the stairs. She glanced at the elevator and contemplated it stopping for a moment. the closed silver doors were scratched up and stained, it looked as if it had broken multiple times. Orihime made out a sign beside the elevator and struggled to read it. She stepped closer slurring the words aloud. "Donn't... ussse elvaator ifff..." Orihime's vision spun making her close her eyes, this was begining to annoy pressed her face on the metal doors, right not she didn't care if it was dirty she was too hot.

Just then the elevator doors opened causing Orihime to fall and crash into whoever was in the elevator. "Orihime! What the hell are you doing here?" A familiar voice questioned the stranger catching Orihime before she fell on her face. Orihime waited for her vision to settle down before noticing the stranger was actually Ichigo dressed as Superman.

At this point Orihime was too drunk to feel nervous or scared so she just replied with. "I just wanna go home." She held her hair back from falling in her face. Right now she was pretty confident that all was coming out was gibberish but Ichigo nodded like he understood. He stepped back into the Elevator with Orihime and pressed the button for the main floor."Well you're not walking home by yourself you're too hammered. I didn't even know you drank." Orihime crouched down, the movement of the elevator made her feel queasy. "I don't this was my first time, Mizuiro gave me some and now I can barely think."

"So you decided to walk home by yourself and not tell anyone you were leaving? You're lucky you ran into me or you might've died tonight." Ichigo shook his head in disapproval. The redhead was too tired to argue deciding not to speak, it felt like if she did she'd be vomiting on the elevator floor. Which wasn't what she wanted to be doing in front of her crush even if she might not remember it.

Once the elevator stopped Ichigo picked up Orihime who was by now delirious. Ichigo didn't blame her though, drinking just one of Mizuiro drinks was enough to give Ichigo a two day hangover. She began mumbling something about how she could walk and was totally fine, but Ichigo tuned it out. Ichigo was glad he drove here, Keigo's was a long ways from Orihime's and Ichigo was not up for walking. Ichigo leaned Orihime against his car as he dug for his car keys. Once he got the door unlocked he buckled the redhead in the passenger seat and closed the door. Ichigo returned in the drivers seat and put the keys in the ignition. He had only just got his license, driving alone or at least without an adult felt strange to him. He looked over to his right to make sure Orihime was alright, he laughed when he saw her passed out with head against the window. Ichigo sighed as he put the car into gear, ' _looks like tonight is going to be more eventful than I originally thought.'_


	4. Hangover

Ichigo carried Orihime fireman style up the stairs leading to her apartment, he was thankful she was passed out otherwise he would've worried about her getting sick. The ginger approached her door and silently prayed she forgot to lock her door, he wasn't bold enough to search Orihime for a key. Frankly he would've looked like and felt like a creep. Ichigo's prayers were answered when the door opened with a soft ' _click_ '.

Ichigo managed to find the light and flicked it on with his elbow closing the door behind him. He took a long look at her apartment, there were bookshelves full of text books and romance and sci fi novels one of them labeled " _Are we aliens? And Other Questions about the Universe_ ". Ichigo chuckled to himself. _'No wonder she has such a wild imagination_.'

Ichigo made it into Orihime's bedroom and layed her down on her bed, draping a thin blanket on top of her. He knew she was complaining about being too hot but he didn't want her to be cold either. Ichigo left her room for a moment only to come back with a glass of water and two Ibprophen. He set them down on the night stand beside her before taking a long deep breath. Her room smelt like her, sweet and light. It reminded the ginger boy of summer time. He closed his eyes, he felt so content in this moment.

' _Oh god what am I doing?! I'm watching her sleep! I'm so creepy!_ ' Ichigo blushed bright red and walked into the living room. He wasn't sure what to do. ' _Do I stay? And risk looking creepy?_ ' Ichigo paced scratching the back of his head. ' _I'd feel kinda bad if I just left her by herself...'_ Ichigo sighed and decided to only stay for a little while just in case. Ichigo quickly ran to his car to change out of his awkward skin tight costume before returning convincing himself he wasn't doing this because he liked the girl, no he would do this for anyone else he reassured himself.

Ichigo passed the time by skimming through some of the books on her bookshelf, he was putting one down before he spotted a picture of her and her brother together. His heart sank, he knew how it felt to lose someone so close but part of him felt guilty. At least he had his dad even though he got on his nerves everyday. He never really thought about how lonely she must feel all the time. Ichigo began to sink deeper into the couch feeling exhausted.

 **8:00am**

Orihime woke up with the worst headache she had ever had. The curvy redhead rolled over to see a glass of water and Advil placed by her night stand. She sat up groggily realising she was back home. ' _How did I get here?'_ She looked down at her body noticing she was still wearing her costume from last night. Everything was fuzzy she wasn't really certain how she got home. She chugged the water and Advil down as fast as she could and rubbed her temples groaning. Orihime peeled off the costume and got settled into her pajamas instead. She picked up her costume and sniffed it gingerly, to her surprise it smelled similar to Ichigo. Suddenly she began to remember being in the elevator with him. ' _Oh god_ ' She put her hand on her face in embarrassment. "What the hell have I done?" she grumbled to herself before walking into her living room.

The redheads heart skipped a beat when she saw Ichigo fast asleep on her couch. She peered over at him watching his chest rise and fall. She smiled softly he looked so content, she continued to the kitchen to make breakfast. Despite her hangover she was starving, and began to make a batch of waffles. ' _I can't believe he stayed overnight, that's so sweet!'_ Orihime beamed. ' _Oh no, was I that bad that he had to stay? I can't believe I keep letting him see me in such a state!_ ' Orihime wallowed in embarrassment while still whisking away.

Ichigo woke up to the smell of food, his stomach growled loudly notifying him of his hunger. Ichigo opened his eyes slowly before realising he was still in Orihime's house. "Oh crap!" Ichigo jumped off the couch _'I didn't mean to fall asleep!'_

"Oh you're awake!" Orihime said cheerfully putting a fresh waffle onto a plate. "Are you hungry I made breakfast?" Ichigo looked at the redhead in disbelief. "How aren't you dying right now? You were completely hammered last night!"

Orihime laughed and used her fake smile "I feel great honestly! Thank you for the water though!" Ichigo blushed

"Yeah no problem.." He struggled trying not to fidget. "Yeah sure I'll have some breakfast, smells good Orihime."

Ichigo marveled at how well Orihime's waffles tasted especially for her being hung over. Despite what she had said about feeling fine, Ichigo could see it in her face that she didn't feel very well. Her make up still smudged on her face and her prominent dark circles under her eyes proved him right. She was a good actress He'd give her that but it was pretty hard to fool Ichigo. Ichigo insisted on doing the dishes despite Orihime's protests and made her sit down and drink more water.

"When I'm hung over the best thing to do is sleep and drink water." Ichigo offered as he sat down on the other side of the couch.

"I told you i'm fine!" Orihime waved her hands in front of her face "Really!"

Ichigo turned to face the girl shaking his head. "Look Orihime, you don't have to do that infront of me okay? I'm not going to judge you for your emotions or think you're annoying I just want the truth. It hurts you more by not talking about the things on your mind, you can't bottle everything inside."

Orihime took a deep breath in before turning to face Ichigo. "I... uh" She was speechless it was as if he was reading her mind, her insecurities she told no one. Was she really that obvious? "I mean Thank you, I appreciate that no one's ever said that before.." Ichigo just nodded.

"Do you wanna ... uh ..do something? I mean unless you have somewhere to be." Orihime asked suddenly trying not to stammer too much. Ichigo's face lightened up.

"Yeah sure I don't have anything to do today why not?" Orihime smiled a bit too widely

"Okay, there's a walking dead marathon on today do you wanna watch that?" Her grey eyes wavered.

"Yeah, sure I've never watched it..." Ichigo admitted sheepishly.

"Oh my god! Okay we've gotta start from the beginning then! Lucky for you I have it on DVD!" Orihime beamed. Ichigo smiled quietly, she was so cute when she was happy.


	5. Tragedy

**A/N this chapter has a more serious tone than the previous chapters, may include some violence.**

 **Ichigo:**

It was a dull November morning. Ichigo sat in his car soaking up what heat remained before daring to step out of the car. The sky was an unmotivating shade of grey, that accompanied by the pounding rain on his windshield made Ichigo want to curl up and sleep. Instead he forced himself to head to class, Orihime would atleast be there to brighten up this ugly day. Ichigo felt restless however, he couldn't shake the feeling something bad was going to happen. He shoved the thought into the back of his mind and blamed it on watching too many episodes of The Walking Dead. The ginger shoved his earphones in ignoring his instincts and braced himself for the barrage of rain waiting for him.

Ichigo sat down in his seat while brushing the rain off his hair. He turned around to face Chad sitting behind him.

"Hey Chad how's it going?" Ichigo asked propping his elbow up on the back of the chair. Chad lifted his head up from his textbook and nodded.

"Good." he deadpanned.

 _'Typical Chad quiet as ever._ ' Ichigo didn't mind though he never expected conversation out of Chad unless he initiated the conversation. Ichigo turned to the front noticing Orihime already sitting beside him. He didn't want it to be obvious that he liked her. The last thing he needed was someone to start making up rumors and ruining everything. He tried to make sure he sounded as normal as possible, thinking of what to say and what tone of voice he should use. He began to feel nervous, he didn't usually care so much. Ichigo longed to just be normal and relaxed but also didn't know what to say. Now that he thought about it conversation usually came super easy to him at least where Orihime was concerned. Now he couldn't stop over thinking everything he was going to say. He mentally kicked himself. ' _Just say hi you idiot.'_

 **Orihime:**

"Morning Orihime." Ichigo nodded.

"Oh! Good morning Ichigo!" Orihime smiled. It surprised her that he greeted her before she did, they had actually began to become friends so it shouldn't be a surprise to her. Orihime took pride in always initiating conversation. Not that she didn't like it though, she felt less like she was being annoying and more like they were actually friends.

"Oh! I need the next book for the manga I finished the last two you gave me." Orihime couldn't help feeling a little giddy when she talked to him. She could feel her face start to get red. _Calm down! Ugh I'm so obvious!'_

"Yeah sure! did you want to-" Ichigo was cut off by an alarm going off. The students frantically looked around the classroom confused. Suddenly the speaker came to life, crackling due to it's age.

"Code Red. Alert Code Red _bskrt_ please lock all the doors and remain hidden in your classrooms. _bskrt_ Do not open the door. Repeat this is a Code Red."

The students shared a terrified look before scrambling towards the cabinets which they had been instructed to do so in case of an emergency. Before long there was no more space and whoever was left was forced to cower behind the teacher's desk. Orihime sat there alone, she was determined to make sure her friends were safe before herself. She bided her time getting because the last thing she wanted was someone else to be out in the open. Orihime wasn't actually sure what the situation was but something inside her didn't feel right.

She bit her lip to keep herself calm. ' _I'm being dramatic nothing is going to happen.'_ She played that over in her head like a mantra. Footsteps could be heard down the hallway, along with doors being smashed into and men shouting at each other. Orihime clutched her fist tightly. She didn't believe this. ' _it must be a weird day dream that's it!_ ' Orihime forced herself into becoming calm. She just had to wait to wake up.

 **Ichigo:**

The door was being broken down, someone had been trying to break it down from the other side to no avail. Ichigo could see through a small crack in the cabinet. He could make out a large shadow behind the door responsible for the noise. Shouting could be heard between the men outside. Ichigo took in a deep breath. _'At least everyone had made it inside_.'He doubted that whoever was on the outside would have much time to search the entire classroom. The sound of a gun being shot forced Ichigo back into reality.

'What the hell did you shoot the door for you idiot?!" Ichigo heard a husky voice scream. "Hurry up, before the cops get here!"

"Yeah I know, I know." another voice replied.

The man finally forced the door open and ran around the classroom frantically searching for something. Ichigo turned away from the crack af if the man could see him. He really hoped this was so dumb prank.

 **Orihime:**

Orihime's heart began to race, what was she going to do if he found her? This was too real to be a dream. The redhead focused on making herself be as hidden as possible hoping that the man would be in too much of a rush to see her. And it seemed that way, after awhile she didn't hear footsteps anymore. Orihime turned her head to peek around the desk when she was confronted face to face by the strange man she was certain had left.

"Looks like we got ourselves a stray dog." The man's voice condescended. His face was covered by a mask but she could tell he was smiling by the sound of his voice.

"W-why are you doing this?" Orihime tried to stop shaking but she couldn't control her body. The man pointed the gun at her nonchalantly and cocked his head.

"Now why on earth would I tell you that?" The man paused for a response. after receiving nothing but a terrified stare he continued. "Don't be stupid. Tell me there wouldn't be anyone else in here would there?"

Orihime shook her head. "N-n-no I-I was the fir-first to g-get here." She lied hoping it was convincing. She began to slowly distance herself from the man as much as possible before he could notice.

"Stop shaking would you?!" The man yelled hitting Orihime across the face with his gun causing her to fall onto her side."Get up! The man prodded her side with his gun. Orihime quickly scrambled onto her knees clutching where she had just been hit, only to be kicked down by the man again. He grabbed her shoulder with his free hand forcing her to stay put. Orihime bit his arm as hard as she could while forcing her foot into his abdomen causing the man to swear lividly, but not let go.

"Get off me!" She begged through gritted teeth. She immediately felt bad for biting him but she was in defense mode. She struggled to get him off but had hardly any luck, the man was to heavy for her size and with one of her arms already pinned down it was hopeless for her to struggle. But she continued anyway flailing her legs constantly doing anything to get the man away from her.

 **Ichigo:**

Ichigo peeked out the crack to see what was going on. He could hear someone fighting but he couldn't make out who the crack was too small. But it soon became apparent that whoever it was, was in serious danger. Ichigo didn't hesitate to even consider the risks or the danger he was putting himself in. He ran out from the cabinet, surprisingly unnoticed. He used this to his advantage and came up behind the male attacker. "Get off!" Ichigo yelled as he grabbed the man by his sweater and pulled him off the woman on the ground and slammed him into the wall.

The man sunk to the floor dazed from the attack. Ichigo turned around to see Orihime slowly standing up using the desk for support. "Orihime!? I thought you were safe inside the drawers!" Ichigo felt a mix of shock and anger. He could see bruises already starting to form on her face. Her eye had begun to swell and blood dripped fro her nose.

"I'm sorry, but I knew there wasn't enough room so I opted to stay out." Orihime explained. "It's okay, really!" She flashed a fake smile. Ichigo felt an uncontrollable rage come over him, how could someone do this to someone as innocent as Orihime? Ichigo grabbed then man from the collar of his shirt and scowled at him. "Who are you? How dare you beat up a defenseless girl!" Ichigo let go of the man letting hi fall to his knees. it seemed that the man had given up on whatever he had started, so ichigo walked over to Orihime. "Are you alright Orihime?"

The man slowly stood up interrupting whatever Orihime was about to say next. She stared at the man who was still holding the gun in his hand.

"I was going to save you for later girl but you've become more of a pain then I had realised." The man's voice was rough and full of aggression. The man aimed at Orihime and fired, but before the bullet could reach her Ichigo ran in front of her taking the bullet to his right shoulder. Orihime stood there in absolute shock. No one else was supposed to get hurt, only her and she was fine with that, but not this anything but this.

"Why..Ichigo? Why?" Tears formed around her eyes. Loud sirens could be heard pulling up to the school. The masked man panicked and fled not bothering to finish what he had started. Ichigo cringed in pain, blood began ooze into his shirt.

"I'm okay Orihime, don't cry okay?"

Orihime shook her head trying to force the tears back, she needed to be strong for once in her life. Quickly she took her sweater vest off and used it to apply pressure to Ichigo's wound.

"I need help in here! She screamed. Please! Someone help!"


End file.
